Antonio Conte has praised Cesc Fabregas for forcing his way into his team with hardwork, saying he changed his mind about him.

Fabregas only managed 13 starts for Chelsea the whole of last season, as he was sparingly used early in the season.

The Spain international already has 12 starts to his name this season and Conte has praised the winner in him.

“Cesc at the start of last season didn’t play a lot, but I was very happy because through the work he tried to change my mind and it happened,” the Italian said ahead of his side’s Champions League clash against Atletico Madrid.

“If you remember the second part of last season he started to play with regularity and first part of last season I played almost every game with [N’Golo] Kante and [Nemanja] Matic.

“But in the second part of the season Cesc played a lot of games, and he was very important for us to win the title.

“This season he has continued to work very hard, showed me great commitment and behaviour and the coach has to make the best decision.”